This protest of the Redmen name at McGill University on Oct. 31, 2018, was followed by a student referendum that ended with 78 per cent in favour of changing the name. Profs followed with a 100-name letter demanding the same. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette

How can changing the name of the men’s varsity teams be such a fraught issue? And what is the right thing to do?

As a matter of justice, we should stop using the Redmen name in acknowledgement that it was used in ways that were derogatory to a category of people who have suffered oppression, dispossession and marginalization in Canadian society. Whatever the benign origins of the name, it is indisputable that its use was also associated with views, beliefs, discourses and practices (for example, the adoption of logos with Indigenous references) that were disrespectful of Indigenous Peoples.

Robert Taylor of Ottawa is taken down by Steve Glenn (left) and Eric Lehman of the McGill Redmen at McGill stadium in Montreal on Sept. 21, 1991. The logo on the Redmen players’ football helmet displays an Indigenous theme, with a feather headdress-wearing man and what appears to be a stylized tomahawk.John Kenney /
Montreal Gazette

We should remember that the term “red men” has had a certain role in the civilizational discourse of our society (as well as others), to mark Indigenous peoples as primitive and doomed to eventual extinction due to the “progress” of civilization. These views were prevalent and still form a part of what the late American political philosopher Iris Marion Young has called a “structural injustice” of our society.

The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission documents well how this structural injustice made possible major wrongs against Indigenous Peoples in the past, and how it continues to entrench their subordination in Canadian society.

We — as individuals, in our roles of leadership, as well as within our educational institutions — have responsibilities to acknowledge and repudiate such structural injustices, and to transform our current institutional discourses, symbols and practices in a way that supports the dignity of all members of society.

There is no doubt that some members of our community who are attached to the Redmen name will feel alienated when the name is changed. They may also deny that the Redmen name wrongs anyone, and trivialize the call to stop using the name as a case of “political correctness.”

However, such a position overlooks the use of Indigenous imagery and references by some of the teams as well as the historic connotations of the term “red men.” It also does not take into account how the injustice of a social structure is reinforced when objections expressed by vulnerable others are dismissed, rather than being heard with respect, and heeded.

Those who are attached to the Redmen name may feel that calls to change it imply that they should be ashamed about their past use of the name or association with it. People generally do not like to think of themselves as having contributed to an injustice. But acknowledging responsibility in this case is not about finding a few culpable individuals. The structural injustice affecting Indigenous peoples is a collective product of a whole society.

That does not mean individuals are off the hook. We all have to reflect on our social responsibilities to stop using terms, language and practices that perpetuate structural injustice; such reflections can help bring about personal and societal transformation.

The answer is clear. McGill must change the Redmen name. The difficulties of this task, given the strong feelings of some who cling to the name, cannot be a reason to avoid or delay doing the right thing.

As McGill nears its bicentennial anniversary, the principal can help our institution get closer to the right side of history by letting McGill’s Redmen go.

Catherine Lu is a professor of political science at McGill University, and is the author of Justice and Reconciliation in World Politics.

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